Pathogen
The lack of a moral compass is not the only driver for a Corsairs’ readiness to sign up for OSO contracts, however, nor the sole reason for Tauris’ willingness to cosy up to the Terran Alliance. Across the length and breadth of the Rift, and increasingly in nearby systems, there are whispers of a nameless horror, tales of death-ships with no crew, and vessels that never return from routine runs. Men have been discovered in escape pods, their bodies alive, but their minds driven over the brink into insanity by the things they have witnessed. Whatever their allegiances, the tidal force that increasingly drives this flotsam out of the Rift and into the wider Storm Zone are the Neomorphs known as the Pathogen. No longer a simple fusion of organic and inorganic forged by a Directorate-engineered military nanovirus, but a new order of life with unknown purposes and unfathomable reason. Their attacks follow no known or predictable strategies, despite analysis by some of the best military AI systems in the sector. What is certain is that they grow stronger by the day, taking ships and vanishing, transforming them beyond primitive twisted artefacts into disturbing and increasingly consistent forms. Whatever their true intent, these strange ships arrive without warning, uncommunicative but for bursts of incoherent static and meaningless chatter, firing weapons whose munitions change and shift the very nature of what they touch. All who have encountered them know that there is only one solution, one way to deal with this new form of life – and that is to offer it death, by any means possible. Where the threat of the Pathogen will end is also uncertain – will it be contained and exterminated, expand to a steady state and remain passive, or become so dangerous it may even unite the warring factions in the Storm Zone against it? Pathogen Squadrons Due to their unique method of acquiring squadrons, Pathogen ships have a standard squadron size and a second number in parenthesis that shows their upper squadron size limit including captured vessels (which also includes captured ships initially taken as accompaniments). Therefore a squadron of Aureus Class Frigates may be taken as a squadron of 2-6 ships, but have a maximum squadron size of 8, including captured ships. Captured Pathogen ships may form irregular squadrons between size classes – for example, one Mitosis Medium and one Stem Small is a valid Squadron for Pathogen ships. Captured ships do not fill the minimum core requirements for a Pathogen Fleet, but may be taken during fleet building. Pathogen SRS The Pathogen may not take standard SRS types, but only Pathogen SRS. These are a unique and deadly blend of other SRS properties, carrying their infection over longer distances. They have the profile: They may make intercept moves against other SRS tokens, and hit other SRS tokens on a 4, 5 or 6. If after any dogfight in which the Pathogen SRS were not all Destroyed or Driven Off, and provided they destroyed one or more enemy tokens in that combat, then the Pathogen squadron may recover a single lost SRS (this may not cause them to exceed their original flight size). For example, 3 Pathogen SRS are attacked by a flight of 2 interceptors. The Pathogen roll 6, 6, 5, 3, 3 & 1 whereas the interceptors achieve 6, 5, 2 and 1. The interceptors are destroyed, and the Pathogen are reduced to a strength of 2. However, as the Pathogen were not driven away and they destroyed at least 1 interceptor, they can recover one token, and so are at a strength of 3. Additionally, if the SRS are involved in a boarding assault which results in the capture of an enemy ship, that ship is captured according to the rules in the Infestation MAR, and joins the SRS’ parent carriers squadron (subject to size and composition limits as before). Fleet Native Pathogen ships * Hanta Class Dreadnought * Botulinus Class Battleship * Naegleria Class Carrier * Chaga Class Cruiser * Aureus Class Frigate Captured ships * Contagion Class Large * Mitosis Class Medium * Stem Class Small Unreleased models *Pathogen unreleased models Category:Mauraders Category:Marauders